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Female fans normally know more facts about what’s going on than men do anyway. I’d say they’re a more intelligent fan on top of that. They normally know more about what we’ve done than we know about what we’ve done. --- Tony Stewart

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There are female fans who take apart engines and will take you apart if you have a problem with that; who are drawn to the danger and mystery of the sport; who watch races on TV to witness pure passion and unscripted emotion; who love the camaraderie of these family-friendly festivals; who feel the nervous anxiety of the lip-biting wives atop the pit boxes. --- Andrew Giangola “The Weekend Starts on Wednesday”

Monday, April 19, 2010

It was another crazy weekend that ended with a crazy Monday finish. And it was an even crazier week for Kasey Kahne.

This past week, ESPN's Marty Smith broke the news that sent the NASCAR world in a tizzy; Kahne had signed a multi year deal with Hendrick Motorsports to drive the No. 5 in 2012. However, he'll be leaving Richard Petty Motorsports after this season to drive for a team to be announced.

"Kasey is a very talented driver and I have enjoyed watching him race. We all wish him nothing but the best and hope he succeeds in anything he chooses to do," Richard Petty said in a statement.

With all the media's attention on him, Kahne entered Texas Motor Speedway in the spotlight. The driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Ford captured a win in Forth Worth during his amazing six win year in 2006. However, in 12 starts Kahne has seven finishes of 20th or worse at the track.

In the only practice session of the weekend, Kahne ended 20th on the speed charts. He qualified fifth and wouldn't return to the track until the green flag dropped. All on track activities were washed out on both Saturday and Sunday, meaning the Samsung Mobile 500 would have to wait until Monday.

Despite starting up front, Kahne spent most of his day in the midst of traffic.

With 17 laps to go, Kahne was able to drive around a massive nine car wreck that collected Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart, among others. Capitalizing on the chaos, Kahne drove home to a fifth place finish.

"About six of them of them disappeared in front of me and we were left," Kahne said after the race. "We had a decent car."

With the top five, his second of the year, Kahne jumped four spots to 22nd in points.

Thanks to NASCAR on FOX, NASCAR.com, Jayski, Racing Reference and ESPN for the information and quotes used in this post.